Alwin was in panic city, population: one. No one was around, not even Winal or Niwla. Okay, technically, they were still with him, but he was the only one panicking.

Winal was already loading up the Core with a bunch of spells. While Niwla observed the person crawling closer and closer using those void-like tentacles of theirs. The shape of the bell. The way the tentacles shoved aside chairs in the way. Niwla had determined that 'it' was a 'he'.

He was moving closer towards them. Mumbling. Grumbling. Seething under his breath. He stopped right in front of Alwin, and Alwin noticed that he was a big boy. Not Milvus tall, yet, but noticeably bigger than his Yin-Yang Slime form. Roughly one and a half times bigger. Maybe more.

Alwin gulped and stared into those glowing yellow irises.

"Who are you? And what do you want?"

The bell-shaped monster shuddered and spat out, "You... It's all your fault!"

"Sorry. Me no speak, Accusenese," Alwin deadpanned.

"Stop playing dumb, Al-loser. You ruined everything! It's all your fault that the whole final exam was cancelled. I was so close to making my mark, until someone had to screw everything up for the rest of us!"

Wait. Alwin only knew one person who called him Al-loser. Although he remembered said person to be more jellyfish-like.

"Bion?" he said slowly. "What happened to you?"

"It's called Evolution. Maybe you've heard of it. But seeing as how you're still a two-bit Slime Monster, I can't say I expect much."

Alwin shook his head. "Bion. Bion. Bion. Joke's on you. I have heard of Evolution. Who's the two-bit... bell... whatever you are now?"

"I'm a Mourning Bell, you Al-loser. Is your head so empty that you can't even recognize that?"

"Quite the opposite. My head is so full of stuff that it's disposed of all irrelevant information. Like whatever you are. Monkey Balls or something."

Bion was fuming. His whole body was trembling as if stuck in a blizzard in his birthday suit. Only the blizzard part was untrue.

"Sparring room! Now!"

"For what?"

"I'm gonna beat you into next week!"

"Wait, you know time travel? Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all."

"I—what? Never mind that. You're just the same old Al-loser. Pulling out of a fight because you're scared. Causing problems for everyone. You haven't changed one bit."

"Wrong, I've changed plenty."

Alwin thought back to how he changed from Yin-Yang Slime to an Ant and then a Cold Turkey, then back to a Slime. He had changed more times than he could count.

"Let's go," he said, already hopping his way to the sparring room.

Bion crawled after him, making sure that Alwin wouldn't run away at the last second. Alwin could practically feel the aggressive breathing on his back.

At the other end of the classroom, Milvus had been watching the entire interaction. There was a smile on his triangle as he left the classroom to do more teacherly things.

When they reached the end of the room, Bion slipped a tentacle over Alwin's shoulder and yanked on the doorknob. The sparring room was on the other side, same as always. A white rectangular box, with a small drawer in the corner filled with emergency Small Healing Pills and Small Mana Pills.

As they stepped inside, a rare thought flickered through Alwin's brain. Maybe hurling himself into a fight after immediately being discharged from the hospital wasn't the best idea. Then again, the best ideas were always shrouded in doubt.

No idea what that meant, but boy did it sound cool in his head.

Alwin and Bion took opposite sides in the room.

"No ref?" Alwin asked. "What happens if it's a draw?"

"It won't be a draw. Only winners and Al-losers."

Before Alwin could fire back, a third syrupy voice oozed in from the doorway.

"I'll be your referee, Bion, darling."

It was a large Metal Ball with sharp, serrated, shark-like teeth. It was, Brie. The girl was obsessedly in love with Bion and had, in his opinion, an absolutely busted Core Skill: Revival.

"No!" Bion shouted. "You're not allowed within thirty feet of me."

"Wait, why?" Alwin asked.

"He filed a restraining order," Brie said sweetly. "Because my love for him was just too strong."

"She snuck into my bed!" Bion yelled.

"Too strong," Brie cooed. "I can't help it that I'm attracted to such a hunk."

"More like a hunk of junk," Alwin said.

"How dare you!" Brie shrieked, which sounded like metal scraping against metal.

She lugged herself toward him, but the moment she stepped into the sparring room, a sharp jolt of electricity surged through her. She flew backward. The moment she was just past the door, the shock instantly cut off, but a thin trail of smoke still wafted up from her metallic shell.

"What was that?" Alwin asked, his nose scrunching at the putrid scent, which smelled like burnt rust.

"The restraining order," A fourth voice said from the door, right behind Brie.

It was Uchronia, walking in on her root-like legs, her leaves shifting up and down with every step.

"Uchronia? What are you doing here?" Alwin asked.

"Checking up on you. Because… well, you're you."

"That's... fair."

Bion let out a strangled shout from across the room, "Can we stop the yapping and start the fighting!"

Uchronia stepped fully into the room, leaving a still-smoking Brie outside.

"Fine, I'll act as the judge. No illegal moves. Or I'll report this to Mr. Milvus."

"Whatever, I'm still going to beat the ever-living snot out of your Slime. Don't worry, Uchronia, I'm doing this for you. I'll show the world that this Al-loser is just mooching off your hard work."

"Not if I beat the tentacles... out of your... bell?"

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Man, comebacks were hard.

Uchronia rolled her eyes. "Fight!"

Bion charged forward. He brought his tentacles to the front and used them to hurl himself ahead, like some sort of weird gallop.

Alwin held his ground. Why waste energy moving toward the enemy when the enemy was moving toward him?

Instead, he launched a classic. Yin-Yang Blast!

A black and white orb materialized in front of him. They swirled and spiraled around each other as they rocketed toward Bion. The three of them met in a brilliant blast that formed a magnificently perfect Yin-Yang symbol.

Alwin relaxed. That was it. Case closed. Battle won. Time to take a nap.

"Wait!" Mind Niwla yelled.

Alwin paused in his tracks. Through the dissolving swirl of energy, emerged Bion. He pushed against the fading symbol of black and white, seemingly unscathed. Keyword being seemingly.

Fine particles flaked off his bell-shaped body. Dust? Rust? Some form of damage.

Did Alwin do it? Was Bion actually hurt?

Bion resumed his charge. Tentacles stretched to the front and hurled his bell-body forward in violent bursts.

The closer Bion got, the clearer the truth became. He wasn't hurt. His Core Skill had absorbed the blow.

Bion's Core Skill, Mechanize, caused gears to sprout over his entire body like a suit of armor. But Alwin couldn't tell where Bion's body began and the gears ended.

Too late to find out because Bion was right in front of him.

The Mourning Bell leaped into the air right above. He raised his tentacles above his head, and they slammed down onto his bell.

"Mourning Chime!"

A shockwave rippled out from Bion. Vibrations struck Alwin as he heard the sounds of a wailing bell echo from both inside his body and outside. He couldn't move, only scream in pain. Or thought he screamed. All he could hear was the ringing of the bell.

The vibrations flattened him, then pulled him apart, and squished him again, in a never-ending cycle of resonance.

Bion landed right in front of him, but Alwin was still paralyzed by the pain. He couldn't move, much less think.

Then, Bion sunk his tentacles into his own shadow. It snaked across the ground, merging with Alwin's. He couldn't hear the move, but he knew it.

Shadow Tentacles.

They erupted like black geysers and slammed down on Alwin with brutal force.

The pain doubled. Tripled. Quadrupled.

He screamed.

Alwin had to do something. He couldn't lose. Not like this.

He was the one who played a vital role in getting rid of the Crimson Gold Sect. So, how could he lose to a broken bell?

He wouldn't.

Regular spells were out of the question—too much concentration, which he didn't have at the moment. That left Species Skills.

Alwin gritted his gummy teeth and pushed through the pain. Darkness flooded out of him and surrounded his body. For a split second, everything was quiet. Then, the bells began to chime again.

But the skill was already activated.

His body lunged forward, crashing into Bion with a Dark Tackle.

It felt like slamming into a steel drum. His attack was the equivalent of wet tissue paper. He slid off Bion's bell and plopped onto the floor, dazed and winded.

Bion didn't have a mouth, at least any visible one, but even Alwin could tell that he was smirking.

"What an Al-loser," Bion mocked.

As Alwin glared daggers, he realized something.

The ringing had stopped.

Maybe his Dark Tackle wasn't as useless as he thought. When Alwin had struck the bell, it stopped releasing that horrible sound.

This was it. He could work with this. Come up with a plan to—

"Let me handle this."

It was Mind Winal.

Alwin lit up.

"Gladly."

A burst of light cracked through the air as the small black and white ball hardened. Crimson and gold surged across the surface. Sharp mandibles snapped out, and two more armored ovals sprang out from behind, sprouting fire-wreathed and lightning-coated insectoid legs.

Winal, the Crimson Gold King Ant, was here.

"A bug? You think a bug can stop me?" Bion scoffed.

Winal said nothing. Not even a twitch on his face. Instead, multiple Spirit Hands came into existence around him.

"Spirit Hands? What are you gonna do, clap me to death?" Bion laughed.

His tendrils rose up into the air, about to descend onto his bell once more. But before they could fall, the Spirit Hands shot forward. They latched onto the tentacles mid-air, attempting to drag them away from their target.

It didn't work.

Bion's tentacles smashed against his own bell. The Spirit Hands clinging to them vanished from the force.

"Mourning Toll!" he shouted.

The smug glint in his yellow eyes instantly vanished.

His bell wasn't ringing.

"What's going on?"

Bion continued to strike himself, shouting, "Mourning Toll!" after "Mourning Toll!" But there was only a dull thud instead of wailing echoes

With every hit, more flakes of dust fell to the ground. And now that Bion was so close, it was obvious what they were. The flakes were actually tiny gears, tightly interlocked with one another. It was his Core Skill, Mechanize. Bion had honed it to the point where he could manifest the gears to such a small degree, it was barely noticeable under all of his dark metallic skin.

"What did you do?" Bion shouted.

Winal simply threw his glance down. Bion traced it.

Latched onto the bottom of his bell were Spirit Hands. They had detached from the earlier contingent and never went for the tentacles. Instead, going for the bell. Now, they acted as dampeners. No matter how much Bion tried to ring, all that would come out was a dull clink.

Winal walked forward and glared down at Bion. In his Crimson Gold Kind Ant form, he was slightly taller than the Mourning Bell. He spread his mandibles wide open. They blazed with fire and lightning.

The Mourning Bell was beginning to panic. Sweat poured out from beneath his bell, as tentacles gripped the Spirit Hands and ripped them off in frantic desperation.

"Crimson Gold Cleaving Slash," Winal whispered.

The flames on his mandibles roared with power, distorting the air around him. While lightning crackled around him like an unstable storm. Bolts danced across the floor. Arcs snapped to the ceiling. One even grazed Bion's side.

Bion screamed.

He flung his tentacles up, in one last desperate attempt to Toll his Mourning Bell.

Winal snapped his mandibles shut.

"Stop!" Uchronia shouted from the sidelines.

It was too late.

Screams erupted through the air. High-pitched wails that'd make a baby blush.

Bion's tentacles slumped to the ground. Tears fell down his glowing yellow eyes. Right above them, Winal's mandibles had sunk into his bell. Cracks spread out from the site, nearly wrapping around the circumference of his bell. Flakes of gears rained down in a clinking shower of metal. As Winal retracted his mandibles, jagged metallic chunks tore loose, dragging more damage with them.

Uchronia rushed over to the drawer in the corner of the room. She ripped it open and snatched the entire vial of Small Healing Pills, dashing over to Bion.

Meanwhile, at the door of the sparring room, Brie let out her own cacophony of screams. Each time she attempted to barge in and help her darling, shocks would send her flying back. Still, she remained resilient, constantly trying to enter despite the jolts of electricity coursing through her body.

"Hold him steady!" Uchronia barked.

Winal froze. His mind and body moved on autopilot.

Spirit Hands materialized and flew over to Bion. They held onto his side, applying pressure to hold the squirming bell steady.

But it was the wrong move.

Blood began to spill out of the puncture wounds.

"Not that tight!"

The Spirit Hands immediately loosened their grip. Blood continued to flow, but was now a trickle compared to the earlier gush.

Uchronia walked up and down Bion's body, searching for something.

"Below the bell!" Brie shrieked in between shocks.

"Flip him on his side. Gently!" Uchronia shouted.

Winal summoned out even more Spirit Hands, fifteen pairs, the most he could currently handle. They swarmed around Bion, going toward the top and bottom of his bell. In one synchronized lift, they raised Bion up and placed him down on his backside. Then, the Spirit Hands split up to the left and right. Pressing against his bell so that he wouldn't start rolling all over the place.

Uchronia looked into the dark abyss that was Bion's underside and recoiled in fear. Sweat dripped out of her leaves as her pot shivered. She swallowed the lump of soil in her throat, uncorked the vial, and hurled its contents into the abyss.

Immediately, the bleeding and screaming ceased. And Bion passed out.

But the wounds still remained.

"Brie, go get the nurse!" Uchronia shouted.

"Why don't you do it?"

"Use your brain and think!"

"Fine!" she huffed.

Loud thuds could be heard as the hefty Metal Ball slammed her way to the infirmary. "Don't worry, dear, I'll be back!" she screamed.

Uchronia turned to Winal. Her red complexion rivaling the flames he emitted.

"And you! What were you thinking?"

Winal didn't know what to say.

Why did it always have to be like this?

He had disappointed her again.

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